Chinese cities have seen hundreds of thousands of these ‘dockless’ bikes hit its streets, that now have tens of millions of regular users.

Each bike has a unique number which, when tapped into a smartphone app, generates a code that the rider uses to unlock the bike. Like most bike share systems, it costs a small amount for each ride – initially 50p per half hour. The key selling point that Ofo hopes will differentiate it from most schemes, including London’s, is that there are no docks. At the end of the ride the bike can be left against any fence or lamppost anywhere in the city, ready for the next user to find it.

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Many Chinese city centres are inundated with these bikes, meaning riders never have to go far to find one. Ofo and its competitors hope to make them just as ubiquitous in the UK.

The only problem at present: hunting one down. The initial launch is a mere 20 gaudy bikes, yellow needles in the bike haystack of a two-wheeled city like Cambridge.

A man with a large beard wheeling a Brompton outside the station seems like a good person to ask. Has he heard about the city’s new cycle hire scheme?

“I was just going to look for them. They’re supposed to be in the bike storage.”

The bearded man is Jim Chisholm, who, as luck would have it, is a member of the Cambridge Cycle Campaign and someone who has cycled in the city for decades. We head up together into the station’s impressive bike parking facility, where he expresses his doubts about the new scheme.

“The last thing we want is for this wonderful new bike park to be occupied by thousands of new bikes. The Labour council leader is very concerned because there’s nothing to stop them being dumped where it’s inconvenient.”

Another cycle commuter, wheeling her bike down the ramp, is also sceptical. “It’d probably work better in London,” she says.

Thomas Jackson, who works in the bike shop by the station, is pessimistic about the scheme.

“I think they’re all going get nicked,” he says. “That’s the problem with Cambridge. They’ll end up in the Cam or get stolen. They’re going to be written off in a week or two”.

Chisholm suggests heading into the centre to look for one. By chance, the very first cyclist who passes is riding an Ofo bike. But she’s an intern working for the company, and is using the bike to get to work.

Heading into the city, bikes of every type ride past, including parents with cargo bikes and a couple on a tandem on their way to Ely. Thousands of bikes are locked to every conceivable post or stand. Although no-one the Guardian talks to has heard of the scheme, the residents’ main concerns are theft and the additional bikes being used by inexperienced student and tourist riders.

“People don’t obey the rules. Italian school kids are lethal in the summer. If the app can include clear directions and a map, I think it would help,” says Ruth Meyer, 64, a tour guide unlocking her bike in the market square.

After an hour of fruitless searching, a call to Ofo’s PR is necessary. He reveals that a couple of the company’s bikes have conveniently been “spotted” by the station.

The bike itself is a sturdy, single-speed machine familiar to anyone who has cycled in Asia. The bike comes with lights – one thing the council had been worried about – and rides easily. It’s perfect for Cambridge’s compact centre and generally conscientious fellow road users. The locals here are used to being around bikes.

After a good tour of the city, it’s time to settle by the Cam to watch the punts. No yellow bikes are poking out from the waters yet.

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An Ofo spokesman declined to give any rider data this early, but said the reaction had been “very positive”.

“They’re being used as they’re intended. Short journeys from one side of the city to the other, 10-15 minute journeys.

Regarding concerns about parking and use, Ofo says the service will grow “as the city requires”, but did not give an exact figure of how many yellow bikes the company expects to put on the city’s streets.

“The long term positive impact is we’ll be reducing the ratio of bikes in Cambridge to the number of people using them.”

Having left the bike outside for half an hour to visit a cafe, it is alarming to look up and see that it has disappeared. But then I spot the high-vis jacket and Ofo logo of the young man cycling the bike away. He’s one of the wardens hired by the company to track the bikes via GPS and to pick them up from where they have been left.